Burma Keeps Foe From Party Leadership Role

Three months after freeing pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, Burma’s military government has blocked her from leading the political party she helped found.

Suu Kyi was reinstated on Oct. 9 as general secretary of the National League for Democracy, which won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but was denied power by the military government.

The election commission, however, ruled Suu Kyi’s appointment illegal, citing a 1991 rule banning changes in party leadership without commission approval, a commission member said Monday on condition of anonymity.

The commission member said the party can still function legally with its old leadership lineup. The party’s chairman is Aung Shwe, a former military leader.